American Canine Association

Breeds

Labrador Retriever


History

The Labrador Retriever is one of the most popular dog breeds in the United States today. From hunting, tracking, therapy, handicapped uses, and obedience competitions, this breed can truly do it all. Created prior to the 1850's, this breed wasn't complete until it was crossed with Newfoundland, Setters and local Retriever bloodlines. Today, we couldn't be happier with the outstanding outcome that the Labrador Retriever has become.

Appearance

This is a medium to large breed dog with males and females measuring 21-24 inches in height and weighing an average of 55-70 pounds in weight. Their head is broad with two, medium sized pendant shaped ears falling gently alongside of their face. Their general body build is thick and athletic. This breed has a rectangular shaped muzzle coming to a stop with a large nose at the end. Their nose is available in black, liver and brown, all depending on the coat color of the specific dog. This breed has two round to almond shaped eyes available in black, brown and amber/yellow; again depending on the coat color of the individual. Their tail is long and strong; this breed has a tail that is known for knocking things down within the home! Their tail is thicker at the body and tapers down towards the end, still remaining strong. The Labrador Retriever has a single layer, short coat that should always demonstrate a natural shine. The coat color is available in black, chocolate and blonde.

Temperament

It may be old news to many, to hear that the Labrador Retriever is friendly, loyal, intelligent, energetic and a wonderful listener. This breed is excellent with children and humans of all ages, generally great with other canines and can do well with cats he or she is raised with within the home. This breed is a wonderful listener and wants to learn new things as much as possible. A daily walk along with other physical and mental playtime is a daily requirement. We highly recommend a properly fenced in area large enough for this breed to play and roam safely within while spending times outdoors. This breed wants to be included with the family; notorious for loving car rides with their owner, family trips, and even jumping in the water with the kids. The Labrador Retriever is excellent at bird retrieval when taught, along with poliece work, therapy work, competition agility and obedience and anything else an owner wants to put their mind to! Positive reinforcement training methods are the only methods recommended.

Grooming

This breed does shed. Daily brushing and bathing when needed.

Special Notes

Please fully educate yourself about the Labrador Retriever health, care and requirement needs prior to adding one to your family to ensure that this is the correct breed for you. Do not add a new dog to your home unless you are able to make a life long commitment physically and financial for your new pet. We recommend a properly and large enough fenced in area for your Labrador Retriever to roam and play safely within. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

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